Trapping these families in areas racial segregation and concentrated poverty, Jones said, leads to a "doubling down" on the effects of poverty.

"It's causing all these other community-wide ills just for the lack of affordable housing in opportunity areas," Jones said.

"Opportunity areas" are the kinds of places where anyone might want to raise a family: They're places with access to jobs, reliable public transit and good schools, places where kids can go outside and play.

And those neighborhoods are also places where people can begin to climb out of poverty.